WHEN the dust finally settles on the devastating drought still gripping much of Queensland, Thallon landholder Bill Willis is expecting a full and frank debate about the effectiveness of drought assistance.
Of most concern to Mr Willis is the exclusion of vital tasks such as desilting dams from the Emergency Water Infrastructure Rebate (EWIR) as well as the very limited assistance provided to grain growers in drought.
While most beef and sheep producers can assess freight rebates for re-stocking and transporting fodder supplies, as well as assistance through the EWIR, Mr Willis said grain growers had very limited avenues of assistance open to them.
"There aren't many grain growers who solely operate a farming business, but there are some and those people would be literally getting no assistance at all," he said.
"We are also in a situation in this district were we haven't had a winter crop for two years so all our planting seed is now useless and has probably been fed to livestock and we'll have to cart in extra seed if we do get the rain to plant. But we won't be eligible to assess a freight rebate on that."
With the moisture profile on his dryland cultivation still empty, Mr Willis has turned his attention to the task of desilting some of the 30 dams that water more than half of his property.
He said it was frustrating that there was no assistance for a task that will help him prepare for future droughts.
"One of the most practical times to de-silt a dam is during a drought and while we can get money to run poly from one end of the place to the other we can't get any assistance to ensure our dams are well maintained," he said.
"I recognise that de-silting a dam can't be classified as emergency infrastructure but it still doesn't make sense to exclude that kind of vital maintenance from drought assistance.
"It's this kind of work that will help when the next drought hits."
Working in partnership with his wife Sue, and son and daughter-in-law Edward and Maria, Mr Willis runs a large-scale mixed farming and grazing operation on Bullamon Plains, 4km north of Thallon.
The 20,000ha aggregation includes 8000ha of dryland cultivation as well as 1600ha of irrigated farmland, mostly used for cotton production.
The family also runs 500 Angus breeders and 5000 Merino sheep including the historic Bullamon Plains Merino Stud.
The districts surrounding Bullamon Plains remain very much in the grip of drought with a total of 39mm in early February celebrated as the Willis' largest single fall for more than two years.
The property received just 250mm in 2014 and, like many of their neighbours, the family now face the prospect of another winter without a wheat crop.
Also, they only have 300ha of their usual 4000ha cotton area planted and all their breeders are now on agistment at Charleville.
Mr Willis said his aim was to look after the eight staff employed at Bullamon Plains.
"So far we have managed to keep them all busy on other tasks," he said. "The cotton fellows have been helping us doing maintenance and improvements.
"We were lucky because a couple of blokes left at the start of the drought so we haven't replaced them and have been able to keep going with our other staff."